ABSTRACT
The plight of sharecroppers and landless peasants in the Brahmaputra valley hardly found a voice in the political programmes of both the Assam Congress and the Muslim League. Occasionally, both would come to the rescue of these peasants in the legislative space but did not effectively advocate the protection of their interests. Despite this gloomy picture in the 1940s, some amongst the Assamese tenants in the rent-free estates and the sharecroppers took the risk of inviting the wrath of their arrogant and powerful landowners. This was a little odd in the high days of nationalist politics. A small section of the Assamese youth, only recently christened in the communist doctrine of politics, tried to carve out a space within the nationalist political programme. The Russian revolution and the establishment of a socialist regime had a forceful impact on the young Assamese students who were actively looking for an alternative political programme.
